The Learning Curve
by Hikishi
Summary: Life is one big learning curve. Duo is growing up and learning about the world whilst trying to dodge bullets and blow bases. Thankfully, he has his comrades to help him. The question is, will he be able to teach them something?


Author's note:

This is an old, old story that has been sitting in my notepad for years, and i thought i would throw it on and see how it does. It, as usual, revolves around Duo and his experiences.

This is a joint Gift fic for Waterlilylf and Ronin101, the former in the spirit of friendship and the latter for the very understanding review sent for my fic Mango

Lily: not quite a mango story, but i think it's pretty close.

Ronin: Your lovely words sent a warm fuzzy glow through me, and as usual, you were extremely astute and handled the situation delicately. This is my thank you.

Learning Curve by Hikishi

Disclaimer: I don't own any rights to Gundam Wing, but I Will soon own a copy of Final Fantasy Crisis Core. so there!

Pairings: None

Warnings: Language, Mention of wounds, Abuse of Wuffers' name

Genres: Friendship, General, Angst, Hurt/Comfort

**LESSON ONE**

**TRUSTING YOUR FRIENDS**

"Ah, shit!" Duo cried out softly as he peeled himself out of the seat of his Gundam.

Re-entry had been a bitch. He tried to twist and check the wounds but his musclesscreamed in protest. "Crap." He muttered.

Deathscythe was damaged heavily and had only managed to make it to the safehouse he was currently sharing with the other pilots. He needed to fix his Gundam and fly to Howard's and get himself fixed up.

Duo managed to get out of his Mecha and down to the ground but had to wait and catch his breath before shuffling off to cover the five hundred yards that separated the safehouse from the landing site. After an age, he finally reached the back door. Duo took a deep breath, mustered up his cheekiest grin and-

-wiped it out in surprised as the door was jerked open and he was presented with Heero Yuy's scowling face.

"You're late." Came the impatient growl, and suddenly Duo was at a loss. It took him a good long moment to straighten up, compose himself and think of a good excuse to get Yuy out of his way.

"Yeah, well, it took a while to find the safehouse." Not a lie, He told himself. He'd been dizzy with blood loss and disoriented. "Co-ordinates" He gave a pained shrug and almost hissed but morphed it into a smile. "Never was that good at them."

This offhand comment did the trick and seemed to satisfy Heero and he grunted, moving aside to let Duo pass. He turned and stalked into the dining room, leaving the injured teen standing in the kitchen. Duo took the momentary reprieve to catch his breath before following. He was immediately cornered by Quatre in the living room, the young blond excited to see him again.

"Hey Duo, how was the mission?"

"Hiya Q." He gritted his teeth to maintain that painful grin and forced himself to punch the other's arm in a friendly fashion. "Lots of flyin', lots of crawlin', and one _hell _of a security system!" He succeeded in saying happily, trying to edge by him.

He needed to get to his tool kit, before he lost the will to climb the stairs. He made it past pilot zero four, thanking his lucky stars that Trowa had just come through from the kitchen, bearing three steaming mugs of coffee for them all, minus Duo.

"Duo." He greeted calmly. "Here." Duo knew before Trowa even moved, what was going to happen. The tallest of them held the mug out towards him expectantly. "I'll make another."

"Don't bother Tro'." He hedged quickly, needing now to escape upstairs before they sidetracked him. He felt rather than saw Heero's stony glare at his back, and knew the pilot of Wing was wondering why on earth a caffeine addict would turn down coffee and mentally winced, unable to now change his mind without them becoming suspicious. "Need the bathroom." He threw out, sure they couldn't argue the point.

"Okay."

He eventually made it to the hallway door when Wufei walked briskly through it, stopping in surprise as he saw Duo. The long haired teen clutched the door handle like a lifeline as he swayed with another dizzy spell. The Chinese boy's eyes narrowed imperceptibly.

"Maxwell?"

"Man, you frightened me!" He laughed nervously, having a sudden idea to use the door as a prop to look casual and not drunken.

Of all the Gundam Pilots, Zero Five was the easiest to bait. His smirk became insolent and Wufei snorted, provoked into natural behaviour by a quick grin and a few well placed words.

"Hardly difficult, seeing as you would rather make noise that shut up and listen. Are you going to report?"

A quirked eyebrow was his answer.

"Well I would, Wu-kins, but my laptop's _up_stairs. Can't send a report until I get to it."

"My name, Maxwell, is Wufei!" came the annoyed response, but he did as he was asked and shifted to let Duo pass. He slipped by and mentally cheered as the dark haired teen, slammed the door behind him.

Duo gathered his strength, gritted his teeth hard, and began to laboriously climb the endless stairs, one step at a time, holding onto the wall for support. His vision began to grey around the edge halfway up and he stopped, resting his cheek against the cool wall. His comrades could be heard in the living room as they continued to talk, their voices muffled behind the door. He chuckled softly at himself, at his stupid attempt to save his own dignity and the sheer desperation and stupidity of the situation. He was tired, he was hurting and he was god-damned hungry.

Duo heard the door swing open and turned, still giggling, to gaze at Heero.

"Mission failed!" Was the only thing he could think of and he crowed it loudly.

Then his vision failed completely and he felt himself sliding down the wall.

"Duo!" He heard Heero shout. Everything went away completely then, and he came to again a few moments later. More voices were around him, but no pain was registering now.

"Quatre, get my medical kit, quickly!" Trowa ordered firmly. "What the hell happened?"

"…Just pitched over on the stairs."

"Got it!" Quatre called anxiously. "Bring him down to the kitchen…better light down here."

"Can you carry him?"

"Hn."

A flash of distant pain flared in his back. Duo heard someone moan pitifully.

"Christ Yuy, not like that!" Wufei rebuked sharply. "Here, lock your arms under his legs…"

"'M alrigh'…" Duo slurred out slowly. The young man holding him simply snorted in reply. He unwillingly sank into oblivion again.

The next time he resurfaced, Duo was lying across the kitchen table on his stomach, naked to his waist and squeezing Zero One's hand as tightly as he could.

"They're out." Heero was reporting to him in a low, steady tone. "Do you think you can sit up? Trowa needs to get these wounds covered."

Duo managed it, with Heero's help, grunting at the sheer amount of effort it took.

Trowa expertly stitched and covered the wounds, winding a bandage tightly around the injured teen's torso. He then injected a strong painkiller.

"Why didn't you tell us you were injured straight away?" Quatre asked, sounding hurt by his being mislead like this.

"Winner's right." The Chinese teen added. "What if you'd collapsed? We'd have not known until it was too late. There is no honour in hiding injuries such as these."

"Don' know you….strangers." Duo sighed, unable to lift his head from it's resting place on Heero's left shoulder.

"Baka." Zero One rumbled. "We all work together. You're going to have to start trusting us sooner or later."

"It's true Duo, we _don't_ know each other, but we have to watch each other's backs, rely on each other to get the job done. OZ has an army of thousands of men. We're five teenagers. Highly skilled teenagers, yes, but there are only five of us against an army of them. You need to stay alive for as long as possible if we're going to win this war. Right now, one pilot makes all the difference." The blond finished wisely.

Duo blinked at them, the painkiller had already taken effect, so it was taking a moment for the words to register.

"'Kay," He finally replied, exhausted. He was slipping away into unconsciousness again, but a true state of healing. "Thanks…"

End Learning Curve-Lesson One


End file.
